Crossing borders
by GuardianOfSolace
Summary: Set during the Nadai arc when Yona and her friends encountered the Water Tribe's daughter along with a mysterious stranger with even stranger gifts.
1. Chapter 1

The quick thuds of her boots echoed between the walls of the alleys as she expertly maneuvered her way through it with confidence. It had been a few nights now since she had found this shortcut to the bar although it may have been a dark and humid path. She passed the familiar moldy corner of the last house and into the light she was revealed.

Her dirtied cream hood hid attention-drawing pastel pink hair and piercing emerald green eyes that could freeze those unfortunate enough to stand in her way. The full moon above however was only able to catch a glimpse of porcelain skin and rosy lips as the rest of her features were shadowed by her cream hood.

The petite figure drew in a deep breath of fresh air, relieved to have gotten out of the musky alleyway. She took in the sight of the false pretense of peace of the Water Tribe's infamous green lush scenery before giving out a weary and disappointed sigh, knowing that soon, she would have to enter the bar reeking of sweat and burly men.

'_The less time I waste, the faster I'll be able to go back home_,' she thought to herself.

With a determined nod, she turned towards the bar a few shop houses away from her. To her surprise, she saw a black-haired girl hesitating at the entrance of the bar. She appeared a little younger than her. '_What is she doing there?'_ the hooded silhouette mused as it seemed that the girl finally made a decision and marched in.

Worried for her well-being in a place well known for fights to occur, she quickened her pace towards the sorry excuse of a wooden door. Her hands reached out to push the door open and pondered in the back of her mind that there was some light music today.

The silence of the night from the outside was abruptly interrupted by loud chatter and the bustling of people within the building. Dim lights glowed from the red lanterns above giving the interior of the building a slight pinkish hue. The combination of the scent of smoke and sweat was unpleasant but having been here a few times familiarised her with the stench and she didn't mind it anymore. People, mostly men, crowded the entire second floor, tables and even stairs. The only women there were serving the men dishes and wine with plastic smiles on their faces.

The night would have not been any different from the others if it weren't for the fact that there was an erhu playing music and that there was an elegant figure dancing at the stage in beat with the tune. A large leather hat decorated with a single large flower on its side sat upon her head covering most of her facial features when she looked down. Her cloak along with her long, maroon skirt flowed like water with her movements as she jumped whilst twirling her floral paper fan. Only a piece of white cloth wrapped around her chest saved her modesty as her bare midriff was revealed.

Men surrounded the stage, leering lecherously at the dancer. She didn't seem to mind as a small smile sat on her face giving off a carefree aura. But although the girl skipped lightly across the stage, the atmosphere in the bar seemed to become heavier with lust and jealousy.

Tearing her eyes away from the performance with difficulty, she searched around the room for the black-haired girl that just came in. Among the boisterous shouts and chatter, she heard a shout towards the other end of the room. It was the girl from before. She was attempting to pull away her wrist from the strong grip of a drunken man. With success, she slapped the man's hands away and tried to back off as he shouted in pain. In response, he let his fist fly, punching her face as she fell to the floor.

As he lifted his fist to punch her again, a leg met his face while another leg kicked into his side. He flew and crashed into the tables and chairs causing screams and shouts to follow. More tables and chairs were thrown across the room as certain men picked up on the negative energy and started attacking the others.

Among the pandemonium, two girls stood over another girl reaching out their hands to help her up. A queer sight it was, seeing a hooded figure, a dancer and a noble lady in the middle of chaos.

"Are you alright? Can you stand?" the dancer asked with concern. The injured girl with tears in her eyes was speechless as she looked at the two females standing over her.

"Come on. Let's get you up." the hooded female said and wrapped the girl's arm around her shoulders as the dancer did the same at the other side.

As they stood up together, the man from before wobbled in front of them, seething with anger. The injured girl was surprised while the other two remained indifferent.

"He's still up. Didn't both of you beat him?" she questioned with a slight fear present in her tone.

"Like I thought, it didn't affect him much even when both of us kicked him." the dancer replied calmly.

The hooded girl glanced at the dancer curiously at those words. '_She knows something._' she mused, _'I'll ask her later.'_

Her thoughts were interrupted when the girl turned to the dancer and asked incredulously, "You came flying out even though you're weak?"

"Yeah," she answered, "since you had blood coming out of your nose."

"Wha- I'm not bleeding from my nose!" she blurted out while covering her nose.

"You can't rub it! ", the dancer voiced out with concern. And suddenly, she was yanked away from them by two men as they gripped harshly onto her, pulling her arms back, chuckling as they ordered her to dance and smile some more.

"Run to safety!" the forgotten pink-haired girl shouted to the brunette as she leaped into the commotion, kicking the man's head followed by a punch to the other man's stomach.

The brunette's eyes widened with terror as she turned to run. In her fear, she didn't realise a man was grasping onto a broken glass bottle and was poised to hit her from behind until it was too late.

She cried out fearfully with tears streaming down her face as out of nowhere, a bright blonde guy jumped onto the attacker's shoulders yelling at him to stop.

"Run away, miss!" he yelled at her as he was thrown off and crashed into a wooden pole. "Zeno!" she heard the dancer yell while struggling to fight as more men kept approaching while the other woman kept them at bay.

The attacker loomed over her as Zeno taunted him to fight him instead. _'These people aren't sane. They're messed up by Nadai!'_, she thought with terror.

Meanwhile, with the dancer now freed from the grip of those men due to the help of the mysterious lady whose hood flew off in the middle of the fight, watched in amazement as men are tossed around the bar like playthings by the pink-haired lady.

"Get close to me!" she yelled at Yona. Obeying her words, she stood back to back with the other female as they scrutinized the men accumulating around them.

"This is going to be difficult. If only they weren't villagers, I could actually injure them." she heard the pink-haired girl muttered under her breath. Worried for the other girl, she looked around only to see Zeno crashing into a wooden pole.

"Zeno!" she cried instinctively causing the other girl to look at her. In their distraction, a few men crept up to Yona and grabbed her.

'_Crap! I got distracted_.' the pinkette thought angrily. As she was about to kicked one of the men in the face, a huge white claw grabbed his head.

"Let go," the man with the claw threatened, "unless you want your head to be crushed."

"Can I cut him? " a man whose face was covered with a strange looking mask appeared and asked calmly as he held his sword over the man's arm who was gripping onto Yona's hand.

"Kija! Shin-ah! Don't! Because of the drug, these people are —," Yona was interrupted as two tall men punched the man.

"How can you say that after you did a flying kick to one of your customers?" the man dressed in dark blue garment questioned with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Really. What kind of teaching do you get as a princess? ", the green haired man asked Yona.

As they continued to banter, the forgotten pink haired girl listened in on their conversation. '_They're saying some really interesting things_.' she thought. '_However, as much as I would like to know, we should disperse this chaos first._ '

"Hey! You guys!", she yelled as she caught their attention. Their face lit up with recognition when they saw she was the one who kicked the man with Yona from before. "As much as I hate to break your lovely conversation, shouldn't we get this done first?" She gave a wave to the violent scene around her.

"She's right." Another male, although this time, a small child, said, "Grab those people that seem like they're involved with Nadai. We'll ask them questions."

"Nadai... You lot know about it? "

They turned towards the pink-haired girl who was unable to keep her curiosity in any longer. With suspicious glances shared between the two tall men, they nodded as if agreeing on something unsaid.

"I'd like for you guys to tell me about it after this, if that's alright with you?" the green-eyed girl inquired politely. But before they could answer, a large table was thrown to her from behind.

"Watch out! —", Kija yelled and darted forwards along with the other guys. However, before they could do anything, she instinctively turned around and with her gloved fist, smashed the flying table into tiny, scattered pieces.

She turned back with a noticeable annoyed tick on her forehead and said, "Let's beat up these guys first. We'll continue talking after this alright? ". Not noticing the shocked faces of the group, she was about to leap into the commotion when she halted and turned to them.

"By the way, my name is Sakura. Haruno Sakura." And with that, she bowed and left them behind with their jaws dropped.

…

…

…

"Somebody, pinch me."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

With a last tug on the ropes, Sakura released a relieved sigh. He was the last of the Nadai addicts to be tied. Glancing to her right, she examined her companion who was currently tying up the last few of his batch.

He had a serious expression on his face although he was lost in thoughts. Even when he was sitting down, she knew that he was definitely tall as she had seen him in the bar before. He wore a blue overcoat over his royal blue robe that was seamed with bluish black hemlines. '_He must really like blue'_, she pondered. Even his eyes were an intense electric blue. She knew he was the type of guy that girls would normally fawn over. Serious, brooding and silent.

'_Great. Another Sasuke_', she thought with amusement.

Ever since the war ended, Konoha and all the other villages were going under restoration. And Sasuke finally came back. She remembered the warmth she felt when she saw Naruto pestering Sasuke if he was really going to stay back. As if nothing ever happened. She was satisfied as long as Naruto was happy. Although her conversations with Sasuke still needed to be aided by the boisterous Naruto, she knew that they were definitely getting better. And the Team 7 weekly dinner just got bigger.

Reminiscing on one of her fonder memories of Team 7 where Naruto ended up drunk and doing some weird things, she chuckled out loud. She sighed wistfully again once she realised she was still far from completing her mission.

A cough interrupted her thoughts as she turned to look at her companion. "Are you done?" he asked. She nodded and stood up and walked next to him.

Hak knew a lot of things. Heck, he took a lot of pride in that. Of course, he also knew that he didn't know everything. But he didn't expect that one of the things he didn't know came in the form of a girl barely taller than his princess. And she even had pink hair. And with that, he curiously glanced down at the girl beside him as they walked towards his group.

"What's up?" the short girl whom he now knew as Sakura, asked without looking up. When he didn't reply, she commented, "You kept looking at me while we're walking. I thought you needed something. "

"It's nothing." Hak replied. Although he did want to know more about her, he still didn't know if he could trust her and her words.

"What's your name? I never got it just now." Sakura inquired. After a few seconds of silence, she got a little annoyed at the silent treatment and told him, "I won't bite, you know?"

Hak looked down at her and contemplated for a bit. It wasn't like she didn't know the name of the others already. So he figured it was alright. In addition, he didn't get the vibe that she was someone who would go behind someone's back.

"It's Hak", he said finally.

"Ah! So he speaks." Sakura mocked teasingly and received a scowl in response. But before she could say anything else, they arrived at the area the group was at.

The black-haired girl was currently being tended to by the boy. Sakura noted that he was using some kind of ointment and seemed like he knew what he was doing. The other tall man who had green hair sat on another rock beside the black haired girl and oddly enough, the white man, if Sakura recalled correctly, was called Kija, was bowing animatedly on his knees to the dancer from before. To say that it was an amusing sight was an understatement.

"We tied up those guys that went berserk with a rope but they are definitely heavy users. They're still going wild, asking for drugs." Hak informed them.

The brunette went stiff at that information and trembled slightly. Worried, Sakura placed a hand on her shoulder. At the touch, she jumped and turned to face Sakura.

"Hey. Are you alright?" Sakura asked softly. The rest of the group who were silent turned to look at them. Their faces lit up with realisation when they saw her.

"My name is Haruno Sakura. You may call me Sakura. What's yours?" she asked the brunette. To her bewilderment, the brunette blushed seemingly in embarrassment and stuttered out, "L-Lily."

Lily suddenly stood up from the rock she was sitting on, startling Sakura, and bowed at the two girls present. "I haven't thanked the both of you yet for saving me. If it weren't for both of you, I would have been seriously injured."

"Ah-No, no, it's fine." the red-headed girl whom Sakura hadn't found out her name replied.

"What were you doing in the bar anyways?" Sakura asked with inquisitive eyes, "You look too young to be in there." She continued while somewhere in her mind, she knew she didn't look much older anyway. But she still hadn't figured out why Lily went in there although it was obvious she didn't belong in there. She looked like an aristocrat. A noble.

Again, Lily blushed and looked down, embarrassed, "I wanted to investigate on this group," and gave a wave towards Hak and the others, "because they were suspicious. They were wearing strange clothing and going around town investigating things so I thought they were in affiliation with the Nadai problem."

"The Nadai. What is it actually? All of you are saying it is a drug but I was given information that it was some kind of medicinal plant." Sakura asked.

"It is a drug. And it most likely derives from plants; however we're not entirely sure if it is medicinal seeing the state the people who takes it become. They are particularly effective with people who don't have a strong will or mind, bringing out negative energy and emotions. And those who take it just once can suffer tremendous withdrawals just like Jaeha over here." the boy healer pointed at the green-haired man who looked away as if he weren't the one mentioned. "And they will need more and more of it and will even resort to violence if they have to get it. Furthermore, one of the effects of taking Nadai allows the drug user to not feel any pain at all but later, they will feel like all their bones are being crushed."

Taking this all in, it was similar to what Tsunade told her. Except the withdrawals. There were supposed to be no side effects. It must have been the way it was made then. Sakura would need to have a proper sample of the Nadai in order to examine it properly.

"Where can you get this Nadai?" Sakura asked.

"Before we tell you anymore, why don't you tell us what you need all these information for?" Hak interrogated her. He was definitely the most cautious one out of the group she saw so far. But he probably wouldn't have been as suspicious if she hadn't smashed the table into tiny pieces.

She winced internally when she remembered that moment. It was a reflex action and she forgot that around these parts, not everyone, especially not girls, would be able to punch and break something large and heavy that was coming at a high velocity. She forgot that unlike in the elemental nations, these kinds of feats were rare. Well, luckily, it seemed like none of them were going to ask about that anytime soon.

Realising that she still needed to answer him, she quickly made up a story to cover up her mission since all shinobi missions were confidential. Plus they didn't even know that shinobis exists. "Since I heard it was a medicinal plant and I'm a medic not from this land, I thought it would have been useful for healing but apparently, I was wrong. However, I'm still curious that maybe it can properly be made into an actual medicine since that boy said that it makes you feel no pain. I thought it could be useful when doing any sort of surgeries."

'_It wasn't entirely the truth but it wasn't entirely a lie either._' thought Sakura. '_White lies are perfect for these occasions._'

She noticed that the boy she mentioned perked up when she said she was a medic.

"However, medics don't fight the way you do, much less fight at all." noted the man called Jaeha.

Sakura cursed silently at the sharpness of the tall men. "As I said before, I am not from these lands. Where I come from, medics are trained to fight as they are to accompany the soldiers to war. It would be advantageous for both ends."

"And where are you from?" Kija who was beginning to catch on the tense situation fired back.

"There is a limit to how much I choose to disclose and where I come from is one of them as it is my personal information." Sakura quickly shot back with narrowed eyes.

The other two girls had remained silent and watched the conversation like a tennis match as it switched from the guys to Sakura and back.

"However, I can assure you, I mean no harm to anyone within this land." Sakura quickly continued.

"And how can we be certain of that?"

"I haven't killed those civilians nor anyone who dared to cross my path since I came here even though the easier it would have been for me." she challenged with a hint of threat lingering in the air.

The rush of the river and the bustling of leaves in the trees filled in the silence that followed those words. With tension building up in the atmosphere within the group, she relaxed her shoulders and placed on an easy smile.

"Right. Now, since that's out of the way, I'd actually like to get to know the rest of you. It's been a while since I had an actual conversation with someone. So, Lily, Jaeha, Kija, Hak..." She trailed off as she pointed at each mentioned person as her index finger came to rest upon the healer of the group and the dancer. "I haven't gotten both your names. "

"My name is Yoon, the handsome genius." the healer proclaimed proudly while pointing to himself at which Sakura chuckled with amusement at his self-proclaimed nickname then shifted her expectant eyes to the red haired dancer.

"I'm Yona. It's nice to meet you. "She introduced herself with a gentle smile and Sakura knew that she already liked this girl.

"And if you're wondering, the one with the suspicious mask is Shin-ah and the loud, hyperactive blonde is Zeno." Yoon informed her reminding her of the other strange duo.

She nodded her head in thanks and told them, "If you don't mind, I'd like to stick around with you for your investigation a little while longer. Just till I get enough information. I swear I wouldn't slow you down. "

Unexpectedly, Yona was the one who seemed to have the final say in decisions as she agreed to Sakura's request despite the hesitancy from the rest of her group. Sakura bowed in gratitude again and observed her soon-to-be company for the future.

'_This ought to be fun,_' she thought as a small smile worked its way onto her face.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

After having discussed the next course of action, only Hak, Kija and Jaeha will infiltrate the shop selling Nadai because the rest were considered to be too young; Yoon and Yona, strange looking; Shin-ah, or just plain unconvincing; Zeno, to enter these types of shops. Hearing that, Sakura understood what type of shop it was seeing at how Hak and Jaeha were trying to convince Yona to remain behind. It was funny seeing how they danced around the topic, neither one of them wanting to explain the nature of a brothel.

Having had training and experience ever since childhood, Sakura was able to notice the special attention Hak paid to Yona even if she had just started getting to know them for a few hours only. It was painful to watch Hak being accidentally rejected by Yona and being teased by Jaeha afterwards to which the oldest member of the group was rewarded with violence. But for some reason, Jaeha appeared to enjoy the violence, creeping Sakura out with the slight resemblance to Hidan, a member of the Akatsuki.

When Lily's bodyguards, Tetora, a busty blonde, and Ayura, a sullen woman, arrived, they thanked the group profusely for taking care of Lily and left with an embarrassed Lily trudging along, Sakura soon followed suit after asking for the rendezvous place for the next day.

She came the way she left, turning the corner of the house, darting through the alleys and into the forest that encircled the border of the village. She would have really liked to stay in one of the inn and get a good night sleep but she didn't possess the currency of the land.

Smoked meat from rabbits and bears from hunts kept her from going hungry each day. Plus her tent and the lush trees provided her enough shelter from the mood swings of nature. She was satisfied for the time being.

And with that, she laid in her tent; the flaps opened wide revealing the pale yellow luminescent moon illuminating the grey clouds in the night sky. The croaking of frogs from nearby reeds and the crickets chirping rhythmically seemed to fade away as she was lured into sleep.

"Ayura! Tetora! We are not going back to Suiko!" Lili declared loudly to her bodyguards who were lazing on the cushions behind her with her hands on her hips.

Both women glanced at each other with amusement and released motherly sighs. They had suspected she would say that. Though they were just bodyguards assigned to Lili by her father, An Joon Gi, the general of the Water Tribe, both of them were quite protective and fond of their client. They found Lili's determination and goal to improve the condition of the Water Tribe particularly endearing. Although at times, it was a bit tiresome to deal with.

"Your father will keep you locked in your room even longer this time." Tetora warned her.

Lili scowled and said, "Nothing will be done if no one takes responsibility for the Nadai problem and if Father isn't going to do it, then as the daughter of the Water Tribe General, it is my duty to protect my tribe."

She recalled the night before when she was terrified of the Nadai addict. Of his eyes that were unseeing. How he had no control over his actions. She remembered the dread brewing at the bottom of her stomach. The thoughts that circulated her mind. Of how she regretted going to the bar. Regretted coming to Shisen. Of how she was hopeless and was reminded of all the talk she made and no action to prove it.

And then flaming red locks and forest green eyes came into view. Both girls raising their leg to fight for her although they didn't know her. Their drive that can be felt through their movements. And all she could do was watch in wonder and awe, and words that were once easy for her to say became extinct when they held out a hand.

She had felt embarrassed after the fight in the bar. Running to the corner and burying her head in her knees in fear, crying while the other two fought for their safety. And when the dancer with hair as red as fire came and comforted her, bringing her out to treat her injuries.

It was disgraceful. Shameful even. Especially since she was comforted by someone around her age. But these people saved her, treated her and she was grateful to them.

But imagine the surprise Lili had when both girls, Yona and Sakura, volunteered to investigate the shop that sold Nadai. She never wanted to experience something so scary again but when she looked at those girls, she admired them. Admired their bravery. Admired their determination at achieving their goal. And just like that, a fire rekindled in her again. A stronger one that will take so much more than fear to extinguish.

With a firm grin set upon Lili's face, she started towards the Inn's door with her bodyguards in tow.

With the sweet chirping of birds entering and disrupting her dreams, Sakura opened her eyes to a clear blue sky lightly tinted with a gentle coral, informing her that the sun had almost completely risen. The whispering wind sneaked into her open tent, coaxing her to rise by entangling itself with her hair.

Combing her pastel locks with nimble fingers, she climbed out of her tent and went to a clean river to freshen herself up. It was almost time to meet the group when she came back and so packed her tent and everything else into a sealing scroll. It had been a few days since she had changed her base and just for the peace of her mind, she would find another place to rest although she knew there wasn't much that could harm her here.

Although it was early morning, the town was still sleeping seeing that all the windows and doors were firmly shut. So she took this rare opportunity to use a faster pathway. The roofs. Concentrating a little chakra to her feet, she released it at the same moment her legs pushed off from the ground and her legs relaxed from the tension causing her to jump high enough to reach the roofs.

Light on her feet, barely any sound could be heard as she leaped from roof to roof. And only to trained eyes can she be seen clearly, else she would look like a rush of pink and cream.

A few blocks away from her destination, she jumped down from the wooden roof, walking leisurely the rest of the way. When she reached there, only Yoon was awake and preparing breakfast.

"Good morning Yoon!" Sakura greeted brightly with a quick wave. Yoon looked up from his pot in surprise and greeted back, "Morning Sakura."

"None of them awake yet?" she asked although she knew they weren't, given the tell-tale sign that no one was moving about aside from Yoon.

"No. They aren't. Those lazy brutish monsters," he muttered in annoyance and asked, "Want some soup? There are still some leftovers from last night." Without giving her a chance to accept or decline, he was already pushing a bowl filled with warmed soup in her hands.

Sakura mumbled her thanks and sat down on one of the nearby logs while Yoon sat on a log across from her with the blackened pot simmering in between them.

They sat in silence sipping at their soup.

Yoon couldn't help but peek at Sakura over his bowl curiously. She was mysterious. A woman not much larger than Yona who appeared out of nowhere in the bar, had immense strength if what he saw last night was true and had extensive knowledge about medicine considering the conversation last night. He knew she could be a threat, a spy, but something about her gave off the feeling that she was trustworthy no matter how suspicious she seemed to be.

Meanwhile, Sakura had noticed that Yoon had been glancing at her constantly for the past few minutes and she couldn't help but chuckle a bit at his intrigue. She recalled from last night that he had treated those that were injured and wondered whether he was a medic too. If he were, maybe he could teach her a few things about the medicine from these lands.

Out of the blue, the comfortable silence between the two was broken by a large yawn as Hak crawled out from the tent. He checked the tent occupied by Yona almost routinely to make sure she was safe before sitting down on the log next to Yoon. Soon after that, the whole crew started to crawl out of the large tent one by one, each addition causing the atmosphere to get rowdier and rowdier until Yona couldn't bear the noise and woke up.

While they were eating their breakfast, Sakura who had finished hers a while ago had taken the time to wander around the area not far from them and noticed a commotion behind some of the bushes and the two female bodyguards from last night.

Interested, she made her way towards them and found Lili crouching down behind said bush whilst holding a leafy branch on each hand. She heard her mutter to her bodyguards that Yona and the others were still suspicious although they weren't the drug traffickers that they were searching for.

"You're the girl from last night," Sakura suddenly stated from behind them. All three of them jumped as they turned around to see her with recognition in their eyes. "What a coincidence. We run into each other a lot." Sakura continued.

Immediately, Lili had gathered a pile of soil and stuck the branches she was holding into it, replying that she was just planting trees in Shisen. Behind Lili, Ayura and Tetora deadpanned in their minds '_You're the one that's suspicious, Lady Lili.'_

Lili had been spying on the group ever since they had woken up and wondered why they were gathered out in the open. She turned to Sakura meaning to ask the question when she saw the pink haired girl walking back towards the group and she followed with Ayura and Tetora in tow.

Yona noticed them on the way back and came to greet them brightly. Then Lili asked the question she had in mind. To say she was horrified was an understatement when she heard Yona's reason that they couldn't afford to stay at an inn so they decided to camp outside.

"The poor are incredible!" Lili stated with disbelief which was misinterpreted as a compliment by Zeno and Shin-ah as they bowed to her in thanks.

"Shin-ah, Zeno, she's not praising us," Yoon said as he carried the washed utensils to its appropriate place.

Overwhelmed with disbelief, her rant went on from Yona being a girl to bugs and predators to which they all shrugged and said that the mountains were worse. Noticing Sakura who was watching the exchange in amusement, she was questioned too and received the same nonchalant answer. At this moment, her mind exploded from the unfamiliarity of the situation.

A clap from Jaeha snapped her from her complication as he started, "Right. Getting back on track, from the information we got from last night, most of them said that they had gotten Nadai from a store named Suirei, the place where I went to, and many of them had drank it either without any knowledge or by force." A dark look shadowed his eyes as he said this.

Sakura too felt furious when she heard that. Being an addict was one thing but being forced to take it was something unforgivable as she had seen the side effects and withdrawals caused by the Nadai. And she had seen first-hand the effects it had caused to the victim and his close friends and family. Now, it wasn't just the mission that she was going to complete during her time here. She was going to find the culprit responsible for this and beat the living hell out of the guy.

"What will you do while your friends are out?" she heard Lili ask Yona.

"I'll stay here with the rest of the addicts who hasn't gone home yet," she gestured to the few tied up men who hadn't been pick up by family members. "I can't leave them like this."

Again, Lili wondered why was Yona so willing to help them when the Water Tribe wasn't even her people. '_How can she go that far? She has nothing to do with this land.'_

"Then in that case, I'll stay with you," Sakura said as she formulated her plan in her head. She had been meaning to send out a shadow clone to tail the guys while she remained with Yona in the case trouble arrived.

With determination burning through the dark-haired 17 year old, she straightened her back and declared, "No. They will be safe in the clinics of the town. They can't be tied up here forever, right?"

"But there are too many addicts in this town. They can't accept them all!" protested Yoon.

Giving a nod to Ayura, Lili said, "For now, I will provide the clinics the money they need. You guys will lodge at the inn I am currently staying at." With a blush creeping up her face, she mentioned, "This is also for the flying kick yesterday," pointedly looking at both Sakura and Yona, "Please accept my gratitude!"

"That will really help," Hak butted in as the others at the back looked at Lili in a new light. _'She's rich_,' they thought admiringly.

He turned towards Yona and teased, "How about you take this opportunity and learn to be more feminine?"

"Hak!" she glared, irritated.

And with that, they set off into different directions with Hak pulling on Jaeha's green ponytail as he had attempted to follow the girls.


End file.
